Celta Vigo earn shock 2-0 win at the Bernabeu as Real Madrid implode
Substitute Williot Swedberg scores brace to defeat Real Madrid, who ended game with nine players after two red cards.
Real Madrid suffered a shock 2-0 loss and finished with nine men against Celta Vigo in their La Liga clash after Williot Swedberg scored an audacious goal with his heel and a second in stoppage time to leave the hosts four points off leaders Barcelona.
Swedish substitute Swedberg cleverly diverted a cross from Bryan Zaragoza past Thibaut Courtois in the 53rd minute to put Celta ahead, and had an easy finish three minutes into added time, going around the goalkeeper to wrap up the points on Sunday.
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Celta jumped from 14th to 10th, while the defeat ended Real’s 100 percent home league record this season after six successive wins.
Xabi Alonso’s stuttering Real team have now won only one of their last five league games as they await the midweek arrival of Manchester City in the Champions League.
Alonso chose to rest centre-back Antonio Rudiger, starting with Alvaro Carreras in the heart of defence, but Rudiger’s break did not last long, with the German defender coming on midway through the first half after Eder Militao pulled up injured.
Celta Vigo goalkeeper Ionut Radu made a handful of good saves in the first half, keeping out a Jude Bellingham header and Arda Guler’s drive from range.
Madrid struggled to create serious danger as Celta set up in a tough-to-crack low defensive block, denying dangerous forwards Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior space.
Guler missed Madrid’s best chance of the first half, with the Turkish playmaker sending a shot wide on the swivel after Mbappe teed him up.
Radu also thwarted Vinicius Junior after Aurelien Tchouameni chopped a ball in behind the defence for the Brazilian to run onto, a rare crack in Celta’s armour.
Celta’s Romanian goalkeeper turned away a fierce Fede Valverde effort from distance early in the second half, before Celta stunned the hosts.
Bryan Zaragoza crossed from the left for Swedberg, who produced a gorgeous flicked finish to beat Thibaut Courtois to send the Galicians ahead.
Madrid were wounded, literally in the case of Bellingham, with blood running down his face from a cut sustained in a tussle with Celta target man Borja Iglesias.
Adding insult to injury, Fran Garcia earned two yellow cards inside a minute, the second for a clumsy foul on Swedberg, to leave Los Blancos with 10 men for the final third of the match.
Mbappe sent a lob over Radu but down onto the roof of the net, and substitute Gonzalo Garcia headed just wide as Madrid searched for an equaliser, which did not come.
Carreras was dismissed in stoppage time as Madrid lost their heads, receiving a second yellow for dissent as he protested a decision by referee Alejandro Quintero.
With Madrid down to nine and in disarray, Celta wrapped up their win as Swedberg rounded Courtois and ran the ball home.
Speaking to the media after the game, Iglesias praised his side’s defensive resilience to win a game with a “strange” ending.
“They have got a lot of quality. It is difficult to play against them. We defended very well,” he said.
“The end of the game was pretty strange. There were a lot of situations, and then there were stoppages, and then some fouls. They then got a bit desperate.
“We are doing well on the road [as it is Celta Vigo’s fourth away win this season]. It is difficult to explain.”
Alonso criticised his team’s “disappointing” effort and intensity, as well as the decisions of the referee.
“We were better with 10 men than with 11 tonight. Simply because with 10 men, at least we started running and working hard,” Alonso said in comments to the media after the game.
“We have to try to turn the page as quickly as possible. It’s just three points – there’s still a lot of the league games left.”
He added: “The referee’s decisions have driven us crazy. The referee was itching to give the card to Alvaro Carreras. The refereeing has been very poor.”
